This week’s episode of The Case for with Chris Cox was about the strategy for showing up for MK after Rope Drop. They discussed the best times to show up if you’re not going to Rope Drop and how the day will progress in that situation.
Here are a couple of polls to kick start the discussion!
For purposes of these polls, assume that you are not hopping to MK from another park where you rope dropped.
How often do you Rope Drop MK?
Always
Usually
Sometimes
Rarely
Never
Other
0voters
What time do you typically show up at MK when you DON’T Rope Drop?
9-10am
10-11am
11am-12pm
12-3pm
3-6pm
After 6pm
Other / NA
0voters
What do you do for breakfast when you DON’T Rope Drop?
Eat breakfast in my room
Quick service breakfast at my resort
Table service breakfast / brunch
Other
0voters
Where do you usually start your day at MK when you DON’T Rope Drop?
I’m not sure how useful these polls will be with all the various ways you can start your day, but it’s just a way to generate some discussion.
I usually Rope Drop MK but I have done other strategies, including spending the morning at my hotel pool and then showing up to MK at 4pm or so with a bunch of LLs stacked (RIP Genie+).
Usually we don’t feel the need to ride everything at MK since we’ve done it all so many times. It’s more important for us to choose some priorities and focus on those. So arriving at a certain time is less important.
For me it’s so incredibly varied. I made selections but I’m not sure they are accurate. It depends on who is on the trip, how many days are we there, and what is the focus. Honestly if it’s just me I might rope drop just to get a coffee and sit by the Plaza or on hub grass if it’s not wet and just enjoy letting the morning start slowly. With the kids, now adults who like to sleep super late, we are tending to start later but stay later too. I think you’ve made a valiant effort here but as you said there are too many variables. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.
We typically stay at the Epcot resorts, so coming back to the room from MK is not super convenient. We usually rope drop (or arrive early in the AM) one of our MK days and leave the park in time to go to dinner somewhere else. For our other MK day, we like to book lunch at Steakhouse 71 and then arrive at the park in the afternoon. Then we stay later for fireworks.
I picked other for the followup questions, and usually for the first question. But when we don’t rope drop it is can be for a variety of reasons, such as a recent trip where we chose MK as our second park of the day so we could take advantage of Deluxe evening hours.
We don’t eat breakfast really, at Disney…or if we do it is a small quick bite
And which land we start in is a game-day decision.
I’m not really a rope dropper. I need my sleep and my days go better if I don’t wake up too, too early. I’d much rather a leisurely morning. But I buy LLs and ILLs. So that factors heavily in my strategy. I think getting there about an hour after park open is a good time to arrive. You miss the rush. All the people that are just circling the park- either left, right, or center- have moved on to the next couple of attractions in the organic walking pattern. And that pattern is important to us as we try for the LEAST amount of walking.
I may be setting myself for the Liberty Square Pillory, but MK is a half day park for me. I can’t do it for 10 hours straight. It way too over stimulating.
I like hopping to MK because there are so many attractions with LL there. It’s easier to do morning at another park and then still get decent afternoon/evening LLs at MK.
However, I’ll happily spend a morning at MK if I can get a crème brûlée croissant from Gatson’s.
We will usually rope drop MK unless we’ve been up late the night before (party, after hours, extended hours, etc). The besides the lines, the biggest advantage is beating the heat. We try to get a lot of our priority things done early so that we can take a break after lunch and then have a more relaxed and less structured afternoon/evening. When we don’t rope drop, we go wherever our priorities happen to be (usually whatever the family is most excited to do) and then I just optimize my loose plan as we go along.
As others have said, this is so varied. We visit very rarely - once every 5-7 years - so the kids have been wildly different ages. I’ve also been lucky enough to visit on my own, so that changes the vibe.
However, we tend to rope drop, but only because we are coming from the UK and are incredibly jet-lagged, especially the first few days, so we are awake at 4 AM anyway! We also never stay on Disney property, and the bus is available from super early, too, so it just makes sense to get up and go. When I went on my own, I stayed near a 24-hour diner, so I was even able to have some breakfast, take the bus and still arrive at the park before rope drop.
We never get LL or anything else, as all this stuff is just too complicated and too expensive. We also tend to go for longer than a week, so I guess the pressure is off. Also, we used to be CMs at Epcot, so I guess there is a bit of a feeling that “we’ve done it all,” even though we obviously haven’t… In any case, I don’t know why, but we don’t feel the pressure to plan every minute; we go with the flow.
What is interesting is that our Disneyland Paris strategy is almost the complete opposite, and we visit there much more often! Always rope drop, always stay on site, rush, rush, rush the whole time. But then again, we are only there for 2 or 3 days.
Interesting. The last time I was in MK, I was on my own, on the very first day after I landed in Orlando. I really did find the park over-stimulating, and I’d never experienced that before. I had to take a mid-day break (walked to Contemporary) and then returned a bit later when I felt like I’d returned to normal. I totally understand what you’re saying.
In my case, I thought it might be because it was my first “Disney” day and the MK was crazy, so it was a bit of a shock to my system!
I think when we’ve gone with kids and family, we’ve always been too busy on MK days. Now that it’s just DH and me we take a slower pace. And we skip many things. I used to love the boardwalk near Frontierland for a quiet place. Now that they don’t have that, I haven’t found a peaceful place in MK to decompress. When we park hop we take mid day breaks. We will do MK 10-2 or 5 to 9 ish.
We don’t rope drop any park, with the exception of when Rise was new and we had to be in the park to get the LL.
When we get into the park, our destination is usually determined by the LL’s booked. If we don’t have any, and we’re just going there so my vacation can properly start, we’ll usually head straight to starbucks, then the peoplemover. and then we’ll leave to hop somewhere else.
Behind the Christmas shop. Well the word is out, lol. Every time I’ve gone there, all the seating is taken. But it is a peaceful spot. I also like Adventureland past Pirates. It’s quiet there but not as shady.
Yes it was. I do forget about that spot. When in Tomorrowland I seek out CoP and People mover to “unwind”.
That also used to be a smoking area. I wish they would put benches there. It would be a nice break. You can watch the train go by.
